In Trouble

You can be trouble in lots of different situations

You have rights even if you are in trouble

Your rights are there to protect you and make sure you are treated properly

You may be in trouble with the police, but you still have rights. In fact, in Wales, anyone under 18 who breaks the law should be treated as ‘a child first, and an offender second’. This doesn’t mean that you will be able to ‘get away with it’ – but it does mean that you will be treated in a way that is focused on you as a young person, and what is in your best interests. You may be worried about being in trouble at home or at school because you’ve broken rules. You may be worried about the consequences of breaking rules, even if you haven’t broken any laws, so we’ve looked at what happens if you break rules, too.
In this section, we’ve also got some information on what happens to you if you are the victim of a crime – if someone has hurt you or stolen something from you, or if you are asked to tell the police about what someone else has done.